Saying that "the occupation was coming to pose a health and fire safety hazard to the protesters and to the surrounding community," New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered the clearing of Zuccotti Park early today.

The Occupy Wall Street movement began in New York and soon protesters were pitching their tents across the country. Since then, protesters have been evicted from their campsites in Oakland, Calif., and in a number of other cities across the country.

Opponents of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, upset about the governor's move last spring to curb collective-bargaining rights for many public employees, are circulating petitions Tuesday in a campaign to recall him from office.

The Republican's critics will need to collect their signatures in the next 60 days.

A free trade agreement with the U.S. more than four years in the making is causing a big political headache for South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.

On Tuesday, he was scheduled to visit lawmakers in Parliament to try to persuade them to ratify the deal, a step he has never taken before over a single specific issue. Lee is also under pressure in the polls, and facing criticism over his North Korea policy.

These days it can feel like the country is unsteady — politically, economically. In a search for the way forward, scholars and politicians often turn to their fundamental beliefs. NPR is taking a look at some of the most influential philosophers whose ideas molded the present and could shape the future. You might not know all their names, but you're certainly familiar with their ideas. They are woven into the fabric of our society.

As the U.S. winds down operations in Iraq, national security officials have a big decision to make: what to do with a senior explosives expert captured by American troops five years ago.

Ali Mussa Daqduq is accused of organizing a kidnapping in Iraq that left five U.S. service members dead. But authorities don't have the power to hold him indefinitely under the congressional authorization approved after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks because he's tied to Hezbollah, a militant group from Lebanon — not al-Qaida.

TransCanada announced today that it would reroute its planed Keystone XL Pipeline, which would carry crude oil from Canada to Texas. The company said the new route woud avoid the Sandhills area of Nebraska, which is home to an important aquifer.

Our friends over at Food & Think, a Smithsonian blog, had a nice little post not long ago about one of Pierre-Auguste Renoir's best loved paintings of a Paris café. "Luncheon of the Boating Party" is a jolly scene of men and women flirting and chatting over lunch. But if you look closely, it's hard to tell just what they're eating.